1 Woman Dead, Another Injured After Hit-And-Run Crash That Sent SUV Slamming Into Flower Shop
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD is looking for the driver who got out of an SUV and ran off early Tuesday after a deadly crash in Queens.
Surveillance video shows that driver's car coming to a stop in the middle of the street.
A great-grandmother on her way home from work was killed in the South Ozone Park incident.
Police put up an electronic sign Tuesday afternoon looking for more information the driver.
Gilda Lascano's loved ones could hardly believe it when they saw the mangled Honda SUV. The 72-year-old was barely a minute away from arriving home from work. She was the last stop in a carpool driven by a co-worker.
But police said a silver Lexus SUV trying to beat the light on 111th Avenue T-boned the Honda, crossing over 126th Street in South Ozone Park. The force of the impact sent the Honda careening into a nearby flower shop.
Surveillance video shows the SUV after the hit, and the car door opening and the driver running off.
James Narine says he was across the street when the crash happened and ran over to try and help, but Lascano was pronounced dead at the scene.
"She text me at 10 o'clock at night. She sent me a kiss. I didn't answer because I was sleeping. I had to wake up early for work," said George Lascano, the victim's son.
By 1:15 a.m. Gilda Lascano was gone.
The 56-year-old driver of the carpool was rushed to Jamaica Hospital. Neighbors said the impact of the crash was so loud it woke them up.
"We all start running, everybody. I went inside the house to start praying because I saw the lady out there laying down. She was gone," Ozone Park resident Sonia Rios said.
Witnesses said the driver of the Lexus jumped out of the SUV while it was still moving, and ran off.
"If he would've stood there, at least help her out. He leaves. What coward does that?" said Antonio Vargas, the victim's son-in-law.
"I just want the guy to get caught. Was he drunk? Was he high? Why did he pass a red light?" another witness said.
The family said Gilda Lascano worked for more than 30 years in cleaning and maintenance at a building in Manhattan. She was even a shop steward for her union.
Her time outside of work was spent with her family. She was their rock.
"That type of death she didn't deserve," George Lascano said. "The way she was, loving woman, everything, she didn't deserve to die like that, not like that."
Lascano was a wife, mother of five, grandmother and even a great grandmother. The family told CBS2 she was preparing to retire within a year.
The driver of the Honda was said to be in stable condition at the hospital. Meanwhile, the hunt for the suspect continues.
